Climate Impact Partners Comments on SBTi's Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2
The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has published an initial draft of its revised Corporate Net-Zero Standard for public consultation. Through public consultation, open until 1 June 2025, the SBTi is asking businesses and other stakeholders to feed back on the proposals. We will be responding to the consultation with our recommendations and feedback from our clients.
Sheri Hickok, CEO, Climate Impact Partners commented:
“SBTi is clearly working to understand what corporates need to achieve Net-zero, which is great. Firstly, the suggestion for companies to require tier-1 suppliers to align with net-zero is a move that would enable companies to manage what is in their control (one companies' scope 1 is another’s scope 3). This is a fundamental step, and if adopted, the trickle-down effect could significantly drive reduction in downstream Scope 3 emissions. However, it will take time to operationalize.
In the interim, those climate-responsible organizations currently using carbon credits to impact their scope 3 emissions on the way to net-zero should continue to do so, receiving appropriate incentives and recognition. We are hopeful VCMI’s Scope 3 claims framework will provide clarity on how companies can take additional responsibility for scope 3 today.
Pragmatism is essential to accelerate corporate climate action. This is a math equation: we need to rapidly reduce emissions and scale all carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions - including nature and technology. SBTi needs to incentivize and provide routes for organizations to do both – not preferencing one climate tool over another.
We support the formal recognition of Beyond Value Chain Mitigation (BVCM) and call on SBTi to create clearer pathways for companies to drive impact now with a framework that enables companies to make a claim.
In the tenth year since the Paris Agreement, we must remember that it is a temperature goal and we will only achieve it through leveraging all solutions available to us. We risk losing sight of this goal by narrowing the scope of useable options and the delaying the timeframe of implementation.”
Sign up for our webinar on 1 April where our panel of experts will break down the key revisions, explain their impact on businesses, and provide actionable insights on how to maintain credible net zero targets.
